A student suspected of carrying out a hammer attack at a university in Tokyo has been arrested, with local media reporting that several people were injured in the incident, reports AP.

The 22-year-old South Korean sociology student was apprehended at the scene for allegedly assaulting a male student during a class at Hosei University’s Tama campus, located in Tokyo’s western suburbs on Friday. The attack resulted in minor injuries to the victim, according to the Tokyo metropolitan police.HAISON, UNIDO ITPO Tokyo to host Bangladeshi business mission to Japan in 2025

Reports indicated that seven additional students were also injured, with the suspect believed to have struck them one after the other. It remains unclear whether the attack was premeditated.

Kyodo News reported that the suspect told authorities she was “frustrated” after experiencing bullying and being ignored by her peers, and that she used a hammer she found on campus.

Approximately 150 students were in class at the time, and one witness told Kyodo that the attacker appeared to swing the hammer without any clear intention, hitting people seated in the back rows. The witness described how everyone in the classroom fled, while another said the assailant's face appeared emotionless, and she did not seem to be targeting anyone specifically.

The police are continuing their investigation, though no further details have been provided.

There remains lingering discrimination against Koreans in Japan due to the troubled history between the two nations, particularly related to Japan’s brutal colonisation of Korea, which ended in 1945 with Japan’s defeat in World War II.

While violent crime is rare in Japan, there have been isolated incidents of random stabbings and shootings in recent years.

In December, a junior high school student was fatally stabbed, and her friend injured, while waiting in line at a McDonald's in Kitakyushu, a city in the southwest of Japan. The attacker was later arrested.

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In 2022, three people, including two students heading to entrance exams, were stabbed outside the University of Tokyo. A 17-year-old student was apprehended and later convicted of attempted murder.